09.15.23

Sullivan: Biden’s War on American Energy is a Gift to Our Adversaries

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) warned in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday that the Biden administration’s war on American energy “is a gift to [America’s] adversaries” and weakens one of America’s greatest comparative advantages – energy security.  

Senator Sullivan delivered his remarks one week after the Biden administration shut down millions of acres in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPR-A) for resource development and canceled leases authorized by Congress in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). 

“We are certainly in one of the most dangerous times globally anytime since World War II,” Senator Sullivan said. “We have this new era of authoritarian aggression, led by the dictators in Beijing and Moscow, who are very aggressive and paranoid about their neighbors. . . 

“Our biggest adversary, the Chinese Communist Party, is scared to death of American energy independence and dominance. So what does the Biden administration do? On day one, they come into office, and they say: We are going to shut down the production of American oil and gas. We are going to go to Wall Street and the investment firms in America and pressure them not to invest in American energy, and we are going to kill and delay key infrastructure that moves energy. Well, of course, the predictable result is the $90 oil that we are seeing right now and working families in America being hit the hardest. That is a fact. . . 

“Of course, it hurts working families, as I mentioned, but this is a gift to our adversaries, one of the great strengths of the United States of America that administrations--Democrat and Republican--for decades have pursued. Read the history of World War II. A big part of how we won is because we were the dominant energy producer in the world. We have been seeking energy independence for decades. We got it during the Trump administration. The Biden administration comes in and unilaterally surrenders that great competitive advantage.” 

Click the image above or here to watch the full speech. 

FULL REMARKS:

SENATOR SULLIVAN: Madam President, my colleagues and I are down on the floor, talking about national security. It is clear--and this is testimony from admirals and generals and Department of Defense officials over the last few years--that we are certainly in one of the most dangerous times globally anytime since World War II. We have this new era of authoritarian aggression, led by the dictators in Beijing and Moscow, who are very aggressive and paranoid about their neighbors. They are certainly willing to attack them. So we need to be strong as a nation.  

As a matter of fact, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan often talks about situations of strength. Now, this is actually a phrase that came from Dean Acheson, one of our fabled Secretaries of State. When the Cold War began right after World War II, he talked about confronting the Soviet Union--the strategy of containment--but emphasized situations of American strength. So that is a good framework. It is a good framework. Unfortunately, the Biden administration, especially in a couple of key areas, is not focused on situations of strength at all. Let me give you two, and I really want to focus on one. 

The first one, of course, is our military. Pretty obvious. It is a dangerous world. The dictators in Beijing and Moscow understand hard power, and hard power is U.S. military power. So what have we seen from the Biden administration since the President came into office? Three budgets for 3 years in a row that are inflation-adjusted cuts to the U.S. military. That is a fact. Next year's budget will actually go below 3 percent of GDP spent on our military. It is probably one of 4 or 5 times in the last 70 years that we have gone that low on investments in our military at one of the most dangerous times we have faced since World War II. This year's budget from the Biden administration shrinks the Army, shrinks the Navy dramatically, and shrinks the Marine Corps. 

Do you think that impresses Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin? It doesn't. So that is the military going in the wrong direction. White House, take note. That is not a situation of strength. That is a situation of weakness. 

Here is the other one that is quite remarkable, actually. It is America's natural resources and energy, and I am talking everything. We are the envy of the world in terms of oil, gas, renewables, critical minerals--all of the above. We are the envy of the world, and what does this administration do from day one--day one? 

With this incredible American strength, with this incredible comparative advantage we have relative to China, there is reporting that Xi Jinping looks at American energy dominance and knows how vulnerable they are in terms of importing energy, particularly oil and gas, and they are frightened by it. Frightened by it. Our biggest adversary, the Chinese Communist Party, is scared to death of American energy independence and dominance. 

So what does the Biden administration do? On day one, they come into office, and they say: We are going to shut down the production of American oil and gas. We are going to go to Wall Street and the investment firms in America and pressure them not to invest in American energy, and we are going to kill and delay key infrastructure that moves energy. 

Well, of course, the predictable result is the $90 oil that we are seeing right now and working families in America being hit the hardest. That is a fact. What I just stated are facts. That has been the policy of this administration's since day one. 

Of course, it hurts working families, as I mentioned, but this is a gift to our adversaries, one of the great strengths of the United States of America that administrations--Democrat and Republican--for decades have pursued. Read the history of World War II. A big part of how we won is because we were the dominant energy producer in the world. We have been seeking energy independence for decades. We got it during the Trump administration. The Biden administration comes in and unilaterally surrenders that great competitive advantage. 

How do I know? I see this every day in the great State of Alaska, my home State. Alaska has been ground zero on the radical, irrational policies of the Biden administration to undermine American energy and natural resource strength. Let me give you two examples. We have an area in Alaska called the Ambler Mining District. It has one of the richest deposits of critical minerals anywhere in the world. There is no road to it. So in Federal law, in 1980, Senator Stevens got a provision in what is called the ANILCA Act to mandate a road to the Ambler Mining District. 

In most States, if you want to build a road, nobody cares. In my State, if you want to build a road, every lower 48 radical environmental group sues to stop it. It is unbelievable, but it is true. It is sad, but it is true. So during the Obama administration and the Trump administration, the State of Alaska applied for a road. They got an environmental impact statement--it cost about $10 million--a 7-year EIS to build a road to the Ambler Mining District so America could have critical minerals.  

What happened? That is good news, supported by two different administrations. The day the President of the United States, President Biden, held a critical mineral summit telling the world that we need critical minerals to compete with China and for our renewable energy future, do you know what they did? Do you know what they did, Madam President? I know you have seen it in your State so I know you are frustrated on these issues as well. They reversed the Record of Decision granting Alaska the ability to build this road to the Ambler Mining District. What? Where are we going to get our critical minerals? Where are we going to get our oil and gas? We need these things. Let's get them from America, with the highest standards on the environment in the world. My State has the highest standards on oil and gas development in the world. 

They said: No. Alaska, go back to ground zero. We will continue to get our critical minerals from China. And as for oil and gas, we will shut it down in America. Where are we going to get it? Well, we have seen this administration. Three months ago, they lifted sanctions on Venezuela so now we are importing 100,000 barrels a day from Venezuela. It is a terrorist country. It doesn't matter. They are still going to import from them. They have the worst environmental standards in the world. They have a greenhouse gas emissions profile 20 times higher than the State of Alaska does in terms of energy production, but we are going to get oil and gas from Venezuela and shut down Alaska. That is No. 1. 

No. 2, the President was recently, last year, over in Saudi Arabia literally on bended knee begging the Saudis for more oil and gas. But America, Alaska--no, we are going to shut you down. And recently--and I know every Member of this body is like what? We are now going to do a deal with the Iranians, lifting sanctions on their ability to put oil on world markets. The largest state sponsor of terrorism, no environmental standards, but we are going to let the Iranians produce oil and shut it down in America. 

We just had another attack on my State--55 Executive orders and Executive actions from the Biden administration singularly focused on Alaska to shut my State down. We have so many resources for America, for Alaskans, for the world. They are shutting them down. And what are we going to do? We are going to get them from adversaries like Venezuela, Iran, and other countries. It makes no sense, and it is illegal as well. 

Last week, the Biden administration announced that the lease sales that this body--the Congress of the United States--mandated for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, they just canceled them. The Secretary of the Interior said: Hey, I know Congress said shall put out two lease sales. They said: We didn't like the process by which they were given out so we just canceled them. 

This is “banana republicville.” This is Venezuela. That is what we are doing in terms of energy security. It is national security suicide when we favor our adversaries who have no environmental standards at all and we shut down the production of American energy in Alaska, in America, in the gulf. 

In August, they took over a million acres of land from the State of Wyoming to produce energy. It makes no sense. It makes no sense. If you care about the environment, you need to produce it from the place with the highest environmental standards, not the lowest. That is my State. If you care about energy security, you should produce from America, not Iran or Venezuela. If you care about American workers--the best workers in the world who get paid a very high wage to work in the oil and gas fields in my State--you should produce in America and Alaska, not Saudi Arabia. 

None of it makes sense. It is national security suicide, and the vast Majority of the American people know it. They know it, and it has got to change. 

I yield the floor. 

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